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ORATION 



DELIVEEED BEFORE 



THE ENOSINIAN SOCIETY 



OLUMBIAN COLLEGE, D. C, 



JULY 4th, 1835- 



BY FREE BI AN G. BROWN, 

A MKMBEB OF SAID SOCIETY. 






WASHINGTON CITY ; 
Printed by Benjamin Ilomaus. 



1835. 






College Hill, July 9th, 1835. 

Dear Sir: The Committee of Arrangements for the 4th of July, are in- 
structed to tender you the thanks of the Enosinian Society for the very in- 
teresting and appropriate Oration delivered on the Anniversary of AmericaFi 
Independence, and to solicit a copy for publication. 

With much respect, 

We are yours, &c. 
WM. CAREY CRANE, > 
SOLON LINDSLEY, S Committee. 

JAMES BENNETT GIBBS, ^ 
Mk. Freeman G. Brown. 



Columbian College, D. C, July 12th, 1835. 

Gentlemen: You have done me the honor to request a copy of the ad- 
dress delivered on the Anniversary of our National Independence, and you 
will please accept my thanks for this additional token of your regard. If you 
think its appearance from the press will in any manner farther the cause of 
true patriotism, it is at your disposal. 

Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

F. G. brown. 
Messrs. Wm. Carey Crane, ^ 

Solon Lindsley, > Committee. 

James Bennett Gibbs, J 



ORATION. 



Fellow-Citizens : The American yields to the people 
tcf no nation in warm and elevated patriotism. He was not 
born in the court of kings, nor has he inherited a liberal 
patrimony ; he was driven an exile from the home of his an- 
cestors ; he was cast upon a rock-bound coast and friendless 
shore, where he conversed with famine and pestilence ; he 
has been familiar with the yell and tomahawk of the savage ; 
and nurtured amid the flames and roar of the battle-field. 
His fathers have been sacrificed upon the altar of freedom, 
and his country is bound about his heart with an inseparable 
cord. The first flowings of his infant veins are animated 
with the magic notes of independence. The first breathings 
of his youthful soul are prayers of devotion for the interests 
of his land, and his sweetest task is in rehearsing its praises. 

With feelings like these, we have greeted the returning 
morn which has ushered in ovir National Jubilee. Yes ! the 
Sabbath of our Liberty has come and millions are in waiting 
to pay their homage. Among this vast number, we are 
permitted to form a portion. Welcome, then, fellow-citizens, 
to the shades of this peaceful grove. You have retired from 
the anxieties and bustle of life, to join with us in celebrating 
this public festival — -with us, a youthful band, who, in con- 
formity to a usage established by the Alumnii, and preserved 
by the associates of our honored alma mater, have convened 
in this quiet manner to talk over the incidents and state of 
our country, as those who are about to step upon the stage 
of manhood. You will bear in mind that our efforts on this 
occasion are the efforts of juvenile minds, untutored in the 
knowledge and ability of the orator, and be to us in the lan- 
guage of the poet, " nostris en'oribus indulgete, et nostris 
virtutibus valde benigne.^^ 

Shall we improve the few moments allotted us by dwelling 
upon the advantages which the great charter of our liberties 
guarantees to us ? Shall wc comment or reflect upon its high 



practical results in the establishment of our civil, political^ 
and religious institutions ? No ! the comparative excellence 
of our Government, overflov^ring as it is with the most glow- 
ing and lovely display for the pencil of the painter, and the 
enchanting powers of the poet ; this shall not be the subject 
of our theme. Confident as we are that our political organ- 
ization will be sustained by posterity, it will be suffi- 
cient that they write the history of those truths which we so 
highly appreciate, and which we so often delight to eulogize. 
Or shall we take you back to those dark and frightful daySy 
when a few feeble colonies were hunted and butchered by a 
numberless and inhuman foe ? Shall we ruffle your peace- 
ful bosoms by depicting the scenes of blood and conflagra- 
tion which marked the footsteps of our cruel enemy ? Shall 
we awake again the long-hushed cries of helpless orphans 
and bereaved widows ascending to heaven for vengeance 
upon the author of their woes ? No ! Those who were once 
our enemies are now our friends ; they have entwined the 
laurel branch about our flag and given us the emblem of 
peace : as christians then, as philanthropists, we should never 
wish to disturb the hatchet which has been formally buried 
under the tree of peace. We should show to them and to 
the world that magnanimity and loftiness of soul, which bear 
such fortunes without undue elation and with becoming mo- 
desty. 

Since neither of the aforementioned topics are those of our 
choice, shall we dwell upon the virtues of those who were 
engaged in these struggles for our freedom, and have left to 
us lasting proofs of their valor upon the plains of Lexing- 
ton, the heights of Bunker Hill, Saratoga or York Town ? 
No ! their fame is written in the hearts of their countrymen, 
and the latest generation will be familiar with their deeds j 
though they be traced upon no showy monument. Peace, 
then, to the ashes of the soldiers of the revolution ! Peace 
to the decaying relics of our venerated fathers ! while we 
would not forget their virtues, we would rejoice in hope that 
their heroic spirits blaze around the throne of God, and there 
bask in the sunshine of eternal bliss. 

Passing over, then, a review of these topics, let it be our 
object not so much to delineate the attracting features of our 
wide-spread field of happiness, as to light upon spots wild 
and uncultivated. Others have sketched their glowing pic- 
tures of the present age in the onward march of mechanism, 
of invention, of experiment, of enterprize, of moral chemis- 
try, of concentration, &c., and especially can this spirit be 



said to prevail among the American people ; they aim to 
strip science of its intricacies and to adapt their investiga- 
tions to the great and noble pursuits of life. Nor are they 
satisfied with present acquirements, but are pushing on their 
inquiries, and steadily and perseveringly striving to reduce 
the whole world of matter and mind to general principles, 
easy to be understood by all. And such is the restless spirit 
for improvement now apparent throughout our land, that we 
may rest confident that our countrymen will never cease 
their zeal in extending the dominion of science over the laws 
of nature. Our country is fast advancing in population ; our 
Atlantic cities are daily crowded with immense numbers 
from abroad. The tide of emigration is rolling onward to- 
ward the mighty West, darkening the extended prairie and 
causing the wilderness to smile. The genius of America 
is unfolding her scroll that we may catch a view of our fu- 
ture glory. How often have statesmen of all nations, cast- 
ing their eyes over this country, and viewing peaceful vil- 
lages, magnificent cities, and extended territories, powerful 
fleets, and vast wealth, felt their whole souls overwhelmed 
in anticipation of the sublime spectacle that must one day 
burst upon the vision of the world. 

But, fellow-citizens ! can you be ignorant that, notwith- 
standing all these indications of happiness and prosperity, 
there are evils in operation through the whole length and 
breadth of our Union that threaten to blight these fair hopes, 
and convert the joyous exclamations of statesmen into long 
and bitter wailing ? There are such evils, and it will be our 
design to point them out and suggest suitable correctives. 
We wish to speak oi facts : with the leaves of a sybil we 
have nothing to do. To flatter our vanity and lull us to sleep, 
when threatning clouds o'erhang our heads, is by no means 
the duty of one who makes his country his theme. 

It is a matter of comparatively small consequence that we 
be zealous and critical in finding out whether every minutiae 
in politics are strictly orthodox, and then whether they be 
entertained and practically obeyed. Very few are the go- 
vernments which have sunk on account of having imbibed 
wrong ideas of civil codes necessary to their prosperity. 
Industry, frugality, and virtue, when combined, have done 
more to cement and strengthen a republic than all the deep 
and profound investigations in the science of politics. There 
is nothing wonderfully mysterious in framing laws competent 
to advance a community ; the most necessary impulsive forces 
lie not within the range or right of legislation. These are 



correct dispositions and feelings, moral sentiments, and habits 
of men. And in the same degree that they are destitute of 
these qualifications, in the same proportion will they be un- 
governable, and they may arrive at that state where human 
wisdom can never reach them. All the projects and philan- 
thropy of statesmen cannot reclaim or open before them a 
happy road to honor. Under other and better circumstances 
it is an easy task to make laws for nations. Men possess 
within themselves the principles of vitality or destruction. 
The perpetuity of governmeiuL depends upon the virtues 
at their fire-sides, and in their social intercourse with each 
other. Ask the greatest of the fallen republics to tell you 
the rock on which they suffered shipwreck, and their reply 
would be, that it was not so much the misconceptions of 
suitable legislative enactments as the inordinate desires of 
those who composed the people. They would tell you that 
the teinperance of Sparta was the safest bulwark that ever 
surrounded a city. They would tell you that fortifications, 
however lofty and seemingly impregnable, will not give se- 
curity when effeminacy and vice reign within. That it is 
far easier to undermine piles of rock, than to shake the vir- 
tue and sobriety of a people. They would tell you that 
when a people are stupified by voluptuousness, standing 
armies are weak agents in repelling hostile invaders. They 
would tell you that the laws of Lycurgus nourished the 
strongest sinew that ever hurled a javelin, and cultivated a 
brazen fortitude that could endure any hardships and face 
any foe. The record of the effects of luxury in the history 
of our race is appalling to humanity, as it is disgraceful to 
rational creatures. The motto of the epicure, " live, while 
you live .'" seems to have been adopted as a just sentiment, 
and sensual gratification has been most eagerly sought as the 
only end for which man was created. And what has been 
the consequence ? Human life has been diminished from an 
age to a fleeting day. The manly, the athletic form has 
dwindled into a mere dwarf; the stern visage and lofty brow 
have lost their befitting peculiarity. And even since our. 
own settlement as a people this change may be seen. Had 
not our fathers possessed an iron constitution, they never 
could have endured the many fatigues and exposures which 
fell to their lot in their long campaigns in the pursuit of free- 
dom. Had they not lived in and courted danger, they must 
inevitably have been overcome by the superior military force 
of their enemies. Had they been reared upon the lap of 
luxury, tasted the grapes of every vine, and been fed upon 



the fruits of every zone, they never could have looked fa- 
mine in the face and bade defiance to hunger and cold. In 
this instance of peril, their temperance and simple regimen 
were more to them than multitudes of disciplined troops, 
and their sobriety both wrought and wielded their weapons. 
But it needs no sapient mind to discover that the cities which 
were founded by them, a hardy and weather-beaten race, 
whose countenances glowed with the vigor of health long 
after four-score years had passed over their heads, now exhi- 
bit a puny stock debilitated by the least exposure or physical 
effort, while the sunken eye, pale cheek, and languid gait 
exhibit the thousands which death is annually slaying upon 
the altar of fashion and extravagance. As a necessary con- 
sequence of this more than raging epidemic, debility of in- 
tellect follows. Luxury retards mental exercise, enfeebles 
the powers of the understanding, dissipates the imagination, 
and shuts up the gates of the soul. A greater part of the 
books that crowd our " circulating libraries" have been writ- 
ten under the influence of a morbid and sickly mind — a mind 
devoid of clearness of perception and wanting in full and 
vigorous exercise. How many are there among us of all 
ages and sexes who plunge headlong into the current of po- 
pular taste, and are fascinated more by the tale of some bravo, 
midnight assassin, sick-brained lover, or sea fairy, than by 
the solid and polishing works of moral science and history. 
They have become mentally intoxicated, and of course de- 
manded an aliment corresponding to the state of their souls. 
How many among the great mass of young men in our coun- 
try that would sooner covet and earn a fame for the author- 
ship of some popular novel, than even for a discovery in 
natural or intellectual philosophy ! And how many a fair 
dame that would sooner blush to own her ignorance of cer- 
tain stories of fiction, than the branches of geology, chemis- 
try and botany ! Is our highest delight always to be found 
in perusing the productions of a vicious heart ? Is the say- 
ing true which has been asserted with so much confidence 
both among ourselves and abroad, that we can encourage no 
literary or scientific work unless it be exotic ; that Americans 
will read every thing in which they are caricatured, but no- 
thing that gives a fair and correct portrait of themselves and 
their country ? If this last assertion be true, foreign emissa- 
ries rightly understand our character in gratifying their own 
selfish, niggardly spirit. Another Basil Hall, Trollope, or 
Kemble, may visit our shores, partake of our hospitalities 
and civilities, and finally gull their benefactors by selling 



8 

them their shameless books. The giants in intellect and 
physical frame who flourished in by-gone days, and whose 
labors were so highly apjireciated, who carried us through 
our revolution, bearing aloft OA^er every obstacle and through 
every danger, and finally placing our Government on the 
pillars which now uphold it, were not of this degenerate 
school. The secret of their success lay simply in their phy- 
sical strength and moral training, by which they were able 
to labor long and perseveringly in the mines of science and 
the great business of active life. 

I have hinted that literature takes its complexion from the 
state of the public mind. If a sickly taste characterizes the 
people, they call into use a corresponding kind of literature, 
and so the reverse. Thus too with arts, no new inventions 
are made while the powers of genius are weakened by the 
infirmities of dissipation, or chilled by the neglect of a com- 
munity devoted to luxury. But industry and manual labor 
are too generally looked upon as compulsive, arising from 
misfortune, and held as becoming only the lowest class of 
society. Hence many in order to acquire a livelihood, with- 
out the disgrace which themselves and others aflix to labor, 
seek for offices and titles of distinction, both at the expense 
of health and emolument. How many are the parents who 
send their sons to colleges, and give them a profession in 
order that they may flourish with a " degree," when they 
would figure far better at the anvil or plough. Is this the 
way to rear up the temple of liberty and give a symmetry 
to its every part ! Away, then, with the idea that industry 
and the operative arts are a reproach. Every man, though 
he be as rich as Croesus, is bound by the laws of God to be 
actively engaged in some employment. And so far from 
the mechanic and laborer being useless in the erection and 
preservation of our Union, they are its bone and muscle, its 
'pride in the eye of the political economist, without whom 
this national fabric must fall to ruins. 

But the greatest evil of luxury is seen among the less 
opulent of our population. Fascinated by the life of their 
more wealthy neighbors, and anxious to flourish in a similar 
style and circle, and conceiving mere wealth a passport to 
respectability, they are ready to sacrifice their all, in order 
to obtain what will enable them to equal in splendor their 
more opulent neighbors. Such are the legitimate conse- 
quences of luxury. No circumstances whatever can lessen 
its effects. It is more deadly than the pestilence which slays 
with its unseen darts its thousands ; and more to be deplored 



9 

than the ravages of famine or war. If then you would not 
see science, religion, the arts, the happiness of mankind, 
and our glory as a country blighted and buried, you must 
turn your attention to a correction of this evil. Heaven calls 
upon you as accountable beings, to disabuse the blessings of 
a provident hand; the soul, its energies, its exercises, its 
value unite in protesting against brutalizing by animal indul- 
gences, and destroying that immortal part for the culture of 
which, man was created and lives. This is not a subject for 
declamation, or passing notice, it is one which bears directly 
on all that is precious in that boon which cost our fathers 
years of trial, and rivers of blood ; if we do not view it in all 
its heinousness and detriment to our political institutions, it 
will bring upon us the curses of early decay, and bury us 
with those nations whose fluted columns and gilded temples 
are now mouldering in ruins ! 

Men are overleaping the bounds of independence, and in 
their stride for liberty are forging their own fetters. The 
good and virtuous are beholding with pain the general spread 
of insurrections. The wise are asking for the magnitude 
and boundary of this portentous evil. The peaceable are in- 
quiring if their lives and homes shall always be placed in 
jeopardy by the ruthless hand of an enraged populace, hur- 
ried on to deeds of slaughter peradventure by the incendi- 
ary movements of a mere outlaw ? The citizen is demand- 
ing if he is always to wear about his person Aveapons to de- 
fend himself from the attacks of a madman ? The friend oi 
religion, if God's sanctuary is to be desecrated and wrapt in 
conflagations ? And the sentinel of liberty, if freedom of con 
science, speech, and action, on the great subject of politics 
are to be restrained, and the day set apart for an expression 
of the popular will in the selection of their rulers be violated 
by storming the ballot-box, and falsifying the suffrages of the 

American people ? Can liberty exist without law ? No ! 

If we have laws let them be the guardians of our liberties, 
and let them pursue and chastise those by whom they are 
disregarded. Let those who are the friends of good order 
show their willingness to abide the decision of our judiciary, 
and let them assist our police in every possible manner in 
bringing offenders to justice. Let this evil continue and the 
time draws nigh (has it not already approached,) when the 
mouths of your legislators will be silenced by those who 
stand ready to make them pay the penalty for the free and 
©pen discharge of their duties. If this infamous work of dis- 
2 



10 

organization proceed as within the year past it has ; if this 
tide of outrage and lawless violence still swell on, then, 
"farewell, a long farewell, to all our greatness ! " Anarchy 
is our lot, the sun of our liberty has set, and the historian 
may write upon our mouldering ramparts '■'■fuit Ilium .'" 

Another topic to which we would invite your attention, is 
frenzy in party zeal. Party spirit was said, by an eloquent 
writer, to be " the salt of our political existence," and we 
are far from holding out an idea that parties founded on prin- 
ciple operate otherwise than to the public good. Like 
fair systems of competion, parties promote the cause in 
which they are engaged, by correcting each others errors, 
and fostering a noble emulation in public men. And so long 
as they make it their business to search out truth, and honor- 
ably maintain their sentiments, and with justice and good 
feeling expose the falsities of their opponents, so long as they 
are united not to advance men ; not to raise factions and in- 
trigues ; not to abuse and calumniate, so long they are the 
vital principle which flows throughout the political system, 
and gives a healthy action to its every member. Without 
party spirit, the interest taken by a people in their country 
would be hardly perceivable ; no new projects would be 
adopted for its good; a knowledge of its history, its constitu- 
tion, its executive, legislative, and judicial powers and privi- 
leges would be but little studied, and consequently imper- 
fectly understood ; patriotism wovild be quenched, and an 
apathy prevail among those who compose the nation, that 
would sooner or later work its destruction. But while such 
are the benefits of party spirit, " energetic, yet forbearing — 
animated, yet tractable — warm, yet courteous," frenzy in 
party spirit is a corrosion of the deadliest kind, it perverts 
political schemes, powers, and privileges, which had for 
their object the highest interests of a country, and '* visibly 
destroys the fabric upon Avhich it feeds." This spirit has 
stolen into the domestic apartment, and breaking up relations 
and friendships, has entailed an odium which has descended 
from sire to son, and from mother to daughter; it has entered 
the house of God, committed sacrilege upon its altar, and 
closed the book of life. The statesman has fancied a plot in 
every action and measure of his fellow ; he has looked with 
a jealous eye upon his coadjutors in power, and doubted the 
motives of those, not of his party, who have in a solitary in- 
stance acted with him ; he has sought more to identify him- 
self with a name than to act a magnanimous, independent 
part on the political arena, fearless of the frowns of partizans, 



li 

fend despising the adulations of the ignorant. By this means, 
instead of the offices in the gift of t'ne people being aspired to 
by the worthy, there is a disgust for distinctions which are 
attainable only at the expense of all that is personally dear. 
In every government there are generally a few who are 
mainly instrumental in swaying the public mind — whose 
voice is law, and to whom the great mass look up as their 
Judges and leaders. The power of such is almost without a 
limit, and they will often turn it to their own selfish pur- 
poses ; they will Avrap the cloak of purity about the idol of 
their devotion, array it with decorations which charm the eye 
of the unsuspicious, and appeal to the depraved passions for 
shouts of applause. Now it is the policy of republicanism 
to examine the claims of every man who is a candidate for 
office, to sound his political principles, his moral purity, in- 
tegrity, and intellectual power ; and it is ourdcep regret that 
the possession of these qualifications is not more universally 
made the criterion for preferment. It must be, or we shall 
lose the honor of efficient counsellors. Another body of 
men, whose influence is by no means small, are the conduc- 
tors of our public journals. Their responsibility to their 
country cannot be measured ; they mould to a great extent 
the character of a people ; they make an impression upon it 
for the better or worse. Next to the honest and enlightened 
statesman, there is no individual more deserving the grati- 
tude and honor of a community than a high-minded, intelli- 
gent, and virtuous editor of a news journal ; such a man ex- 
ercises a supervision over every branch of society, for which 
he trims his midnight lamp, watching the liberties of his coun- 
try ; days of pleasure come and go, but not for him. Some 
may devise plans for the corruption of his government, and 
to spread moral ruin over the land, but he is prompt in de- 
tecting the off'enders and holding them up to public shame. 
Others may indicate tokens of fear and alarm when danger 
approaches, but he is struggling to avert the storm, and effect 
the peace and happiness of the people ; the undeserving may 
be commended, but he undergoes a martyrdom for the public 
good ; the guilty is punished, the innocent protected, the un- 
informed instructed, the meritorious introduced into notice, 
civil and religious liberty advanced, and the citadel of free- 
dom fortified and strengthened. But while our country is 
blest with many such streams, that water and fertilize, it is 
curst with an infinite number, whose nauseous and putrid 
vapor is continually filling the atmosphere with disease and 
death ; they are pests, and more than floating nuisances, and 



12 

though they are issued under the sacred motto of " Liberty 
of the Press," this should be for them no sanction. However 
high in the estimation of a certain class such men may be, 
and whatever the professed object of their labor, they mani- 
fest the spirit which actuates them upon every column of 
their periodicals — to heap their bitter invectives upon those 
who are politically opposed to them — to brand with infamy 
every suggestion that does not harmonize with their opi- 
nions — to slander and abuse — to scruple the motives and ve- 
racity of those who disagree with them — to influence the 
suffrages of the illiterate by declaiming about aristocracies, 
democracy, monopolies, &c. ; in one word, to effect their sel- 
fish ends, by kindling and causing the fire of party spirit to 
burn and rage. These, these are the incediaries which are 
baffling the hopes, the prayers, and the toils of the patriot, 
which are creating jealousies and divisions among the peo- 
ple, and embittering their cup with the dregs of wo. In- 
crease and multiply the means of weekly and daily commu- 
nication throughout our country, let every cottage and cabin 
be furnished with a newspaper that will give a faithful ac- 
count of every new movement, and every important matter 
that relates to the nation ; and let every man be thereby 
qualified to decide u})on the just merits of every question 
that concerns him as one of a sovereign people. But let not 
the productions of the designing and mischievous, — the 
thoughts and actions of the depraved, be found at the door of 
the guileless peasant, or in the hands of the vicious and law- 
less, to deceive and contaminate the former, and explode the 
passions of the latter. Then there loill be, as there should 
be, a greater confidence in rulers and in the ruled, a less de- 
gree of distrust towards those in power, and a more liberal 
feeling manifested towards those who guide the afftiirs of 
State. As a people we are professedly united in one common 
cause, the good of a Government for which our fathers poured 
forth their blood and treasures, and in the dissemination of the 
true doctrines of liberty. We are the children of those who 
have collected together from various nations ; who fled from 
tyranny oppression, and factions, to enjoy undisturbed the 
blessings of a free and happy nation ; we are surrounded with 
every facility to gain happiness and glory. Providence has 
smiled upon all our efforts, and showered upon us the bounties 
of his hand, and if we prove negligent of our trust and privi- 
leges, the voice of our fathers will be heard from the grave 
in terms of rebuke ; the same kind hand which has been with. 



13 

us in war and peace, will be uplifted to destroy our po^sefH 
sions and lay our honor in the tomb. If then a relation so 
near subsists between us, let it be manifest in all our words 
and actions. Because we may differ as to the precise princi- 
ples best adapted to increase our interests, it does not follow 
that ill will or disingenuous feelings should be cherished in 
our bosoms towards each other ; that we should hold those 
who disagree with us as enemies to their country ; patriotism 
may be as ardent and pure in that man, whose opinions are 
erroneous, as in him who entertains correct views of govern- 
ment ; it is an error of the head and not of the heart. We 
have no warrant, then, to charge a man with wicked motive, 
who advocates that which his intellect if improved would not 
teach. Such conduct tends to gender strife, and separate 
our affections even from our countiy, and when the crisis ar- 
rives, where its safety demands our mutual co operation, 
prejudices and hatred may be found created which will act 
as barriers to our united exertions. 

To the end that no catastrophe like that we have mention- 
ed may occur — that oiir southern skies may never again be 
overcast with the dark and frightening clouds of disunion, 
or any portion of our hemisphere be again rent with the hur- 
ricanes of popular clamor and excitement, let us draw tighter 
the bands of love ; let sectional jealousies be abandoned ; let 
us seek for those to be our rulers who are gifted with proper 
abilities, whatever their names, their party, or wherever 
their homes ; let us be so fumly united that those who are 
now anxiously longing to behold our ruin, may behold in 
the perspective terror and disappointment. Let it not be 
our fault if our country does not flourish, and increase in 
strength and honor to the latest generation ; let our exertions 
be so directed that though star after star may fade from the 
political heavens, yet the star of America shall continue to 
shine to the close of time. 

Fellow-citizens : The foundation of our posperity must be 
laid deep in the spread of intelligence, sound morals, and 
public order. Far be it from us to intimate that the science 
of \\Q.Y should not be cultivated by our countrymen. We 
would not take even a leaf from the chaplet which encircles 
the brow of the patriot warrior. The immortal declaration 
to which we have this morning listened, was sustained only 
by the best blood of our country, and its great principles 
carried through at the point of the bayonet and cannon's 
mouth. There are crises at which we must summon up aH 
our might in arms, stand upon the buhvarks of our liberties, 



14 

iind oven give our lives away when our country calls for the 
sacrifice. But we wish to overthrow the notion that military 
prowess alone will be a sufficient safeguard to our interests. 

All history Avill bear me out in the assertion, that it is not 
the splendor of shields and swords that will give lasting 
glory to any government— it is not the display of banners^ 
drenched in human gore, or the chaplets of our warriors, 
that will immortalize the American name. No ! he who 
seeks for laurels like these, with which to garnish his coun- 
try, seeks for leaves that will wither and fade ; for we have 
every indication that the summer of chivalry has past, and 
winter must entomb them, to decay and mingle with the 
earth. The age has gone by when the names of a Caesar, or 
Frederick, or Bonaparte, or Wellington, will be the bright- 
est gems in the crown of a nation. As men are advancing in 
knowledge and civilization, they are bocoming more refined 
in their moral feelings ; humanity and love are taking the 
places of the barbarities of the battle field, and nobler and 
more angelic employments are engaging the ambition of the 
world. The time has gone by, when the most enchanting 
and lasting theme for the poet shall be the tale of massacre 
on the plains of Troy, and when a nation's honor is to be in- 
sulted by the domestic trifles and freaks of puerile kings. 
Another Homer will never make an Achilles the hero of his 
song. Another Virgil will never begin the inspiration of 
his muse with '■^arma virumque cano^ The time is at 
hand when we shall no longer look with sympathy upon the 
mangled body of a Hector, or weep over the misfortunes of 
an iEneas. Go, visit Vernon, and ask the shades of the illus- 
trious dead, why no gorgeous marble presses his sleeping 
remains? and I fancy you hear the voice of the hero chiding 
you for the invidious question, in the answer, that " the spirit 
of the Alexanders has passed away, and a reign of brotherly 
affection is ensuing." Go to the heights of Charlestown, 
and there ask why that grand and peering obelisk has 
gone up so slowly ? and you have the reply, not that 
the valor of those for whom it was designed is not justly ap- 
preciated, or that their names have sunk into oblivion ; far, 
very far, from this ; but it is that every trace of that scourge 
which has set nation against nation, and brother against 
brother, may be forgotten, and universal peace be restored to 
all mankind. 

If the thrones of despots could speak, would they say they 
fear our military power more than the moral weapons we are 
forging to set their subjects free ? Go ! look into the book 



15 

of futurity, and see if the historian has given a high-wrought 
eulogium upon our insigna of war, if he has lighted up his 
pages with the blaze of our military achievements. No I he 
who has declared that " swords shall be turned into pruning 
hooks^^ will indite to the narrator sublimer subjects; Chris- 
tian historians will then wield the pen, and no longer shall 
the terror of arms, but moral goodness graduate the chief 
glory of a country. What, too, are talents, when conscience 
has no seat in the heart to govern the intellect or sway the pas- 
sions ? What are political tenets, though grounded, as they 
may be, in the depths of mental and civil research, and bright 
and shining as they may otherwise appear, if the heart has 
never been cultivated, and no healthful moral streams have 
ever refreshed the soul ! To what may be attributed the 
many victories of our Washington over his enemies? We 
see him uniting the efforts of his mind with those of his 
heart for his success. On the eve of battle, silent and alone 
we trace his walk to some sequestered spot, and there listen 
in imagination to his supplications unto the Supreme Power 
to "bless his nerveless arm with might and victory, to smile 
upon his war-worn soldiers, and awake spirit and fire in 
every languid pulse." Such a man may well be termed a 
Christian patriot. Place in contrast the two characters of 
Napoleon and Washington. At the mention of the one, we 
shudder ; at the name of (he other we rejoice ; the one is as- 
sociated with all that is inhuman, the other with all that is 
philanthropic ; the one seeks to gratify an insatiable ambition, 
by deluging his country and the world in misery ; the other 
to break the shackles of tyranny, and prepare all for a glori- 
ous immortality. The only material difierence between 
these two individuals lay in this — the former had no cultiva- 
tion of heart, the latter had. He who combines goodness of 
soul with correct views of government, is sure of success in 
managing the ship of State. He will have the respect and 
love of his subjects, and of course they will second his efforts ; 
but above all he will enjoy the favor of Him who controls 
the destinies of nations. While such a man will maintain 
with becoming firmness the great truths of self-government 
and the rights of his country, he will never close his ear to 
the cries of justice. In the discharge of his duties as Chief 
Magistrate his ultimate end will not be to obtain pillared piles, 
or eternal pyramids to recount his praises. It is enough for 
him if his name exists in the heart, in the affections of a 
people whom he has made wiser and better by his adminis- 
tration. It is sufficient for him if he can " wrap the drapery 



16 

©f his couch about Ixim," and lie down with the conviction 
that he has performed the highest duties to his fellow-men, 
and fearlessly await the reward of his Judge. Does not the 
sense and experience of every man say, that in the hands of 
such a person the liberties of a nation must be preserved ? 
Elevate, then, no man to stations of such honor and trust who 
is morally incapacitated for its duties, who would trample 
under his feet the Revelation of Jehovah, despise the first 
principle which governs Heaven — " love to God," and the 
second law obligatory upon earth — " love to man." 

These remarks apply with equal force and truth to those 
whom you should select as your legislators. Look at those 
who compose your State and general assemblies, and then 
ask how large is their number who, from their moral disa- 
bility, are unable to advance your happiness. Will those 
who are themselves profligates tear down your gambling 
houses, and demolish your haunts of iniquity ? Do you not 
blush that such should be honored with seats where no un- 
hallowed tongue should speak ? that vice should be mingled 
with virtue, and that the tears and prayers of true patriotism 
should be mocked by the sneers and chills of infidelity ! 

But the character of such men is the character of their con- 
stituents. In general, every representative is a sample of 
the moral, as well as the intellectual traits of those who de- 
pute them to legislate. If the former are men addicted to 
habits of intemperance and immorality, so are a majority of 
the latter. If ignorance, depravity, and party rancor, distin- 
guish the one, rest assured they will the other. Judge, 
then, from your knowledge of the persons who occupy your 
halls of legislation, to what extent a reformation should be 
effected, if we would most successfully strengthen the bonds 
and blessings of our Union. We congratulate you that the 
means of knowledge ore increasing, that colleges and semi- 
naries of learning are arising in various sections of our land. 
Let such institutions be supported and multiplied. They 
are the beacons that will light your care-worn mariners to an 
anchorage of safety, when the political elements are enraged. 
But while you are enthusiastic in establishing these higher 
departments of science, and filling them with ihe sons of the 
wealthy, neglect not those of a lower grade. 

As many of the rising generation have not the resources 
whereby to enjoy the benefits of the most desirable course of 
education, let the noble system of Free Schools be every 
where extended, that all may qualify themselves to discharge 
the duties of civil life. 



17 

Cast your eyes westward, it has been said that the present 
century will close with a population of twenty millions in the 
valley oi the Mississippi. Shall knowledge keep pace with this 
vast increase of our race ? What is now the condition of its 
inhabitants? Coming from every quarter of the globe, many 
of them have by education the principles of absolute monar- 
chy strongly implanted in their minds. Of a government like 
our own, they can have no correct conception. And, yet, 
with all these disqualifications, the whole control of this na- 
tion will very shortly lie in their hands. Pause, then, pa- 
triots and statesmen, })hilanthropists and christians, lovers of 
civil and religious freedom ! Stretch your eyes from the 
northern to the southern boundary of this favored empire, 
look upon the plains crimsoned with the blood of your fathers, 
see a great confederacy united by common interests, and 
possessing within themselves every facility for wealth and 
national honor — listen to the millions of voices which are 
this day swelling over hill and dale in the anthems of joy. 
Oh ! shall yon sun ever rise or set upon our country 
in ruins ^ Shall our " solemn temples be the resort of 
muttering monks and infidel bacchanalians '"' Shall the 
stranger ever visit our shores, as he now visits those of 
the once fertile and blooming Palestine, only to see the 
wreck of human magnificence, and to gather up historic 
relics of our past existence. But let us not indulge in 
such gloomy forebodings. It is only for us to say that 
such shall not be the case, and its done. It is only for us to 
dessemminate the light of knowledge, and instil into every 
breast the principles of morality and religion, and we shall 
exceed our own hopes. Let me insist, above all else, upon 
the importance of these two ingredients needful to accom- 
plish this object. Be not deceived by supposing that " the 
idolatry of science alone is the purifying and preserving salt 
of the nations." The renowned Lord Brougham was in an 
error, when he excl.'imed, in the Parliament of England, 
" jcive the people knowledge and they will guard their rights 
for themselves.'''' The eras of Ethiopian, Egyptian, Chinese, 
and Grecian illumination contradict the assertion. Modern 
times also furnish an example to the point. In the reign of 
Louis XV^I, we see France one great school of philosophy. 
In the language of another, " for a while the philosophers 
rode proudly and gloriously, like Tritons, amid the waves 
they had excited, but they had forgotten to provide the only 
trident of sufficient p wer to control and allay the storm. 
The very weapons they had forged in the laboratories of phi- 
3 



18 

losophic seclusion, were turned against themselves. Thej 
had put the two-edged sword of knowledge into the hands 
of maniacs, or rather demoniacs, from whose minds were ob- 
literated every sentiment of virtue, every idea of moral ac- 
countability. It was not ignorance that deluged France in 
an ocean of blood, but unbaptised science. 

Shun then the rocks on which others have wrecked their 
all. Turn your attention to a speedy and thorough reforma- 
tion in morals ; shut the flood gates of vice ; stay the progress 
of luxury, riots, and over heated party spirit ; uproot the su- 
perstition and crimes too prevalent among us, and sow the 
seeds of knowledge and virtue. And, in the midst of our 
prosperity, let us not be unmindful of Him who has thus far 
crowned our labors with his smiles and goodness. As a na- 
tion we must honor his name, reverence his sanctuary, con- 
fess our sins, and be humble at his feet. We must erect an 
altar in every heart, from which shall go up the pure in- 
cense of prayer and praise to Almighty God, the preserver 
and guardian of our liberties. And then, though the powers 
of the earth be combined against us, we may still exclaim 
wi*h heart felt satisfaction, " happy is that nation whose God 
is the Lord." Then we shall attain an eminence from which 
no tyrant can hurl us ; an elevation where no winds or 
tempests can annoy us ; and while the elements may be in 
commotion at our feet, we will sit in calm serenity, while 
the sun of our glory penetrates and dispels the darkness that 
shrouds the nations of the earth. 




i „«"!"' °^congre1^ 




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